Just over ten years ago, Brazil was a global beacon for development. Now, with the election of populist, far-right leader Jair Bolsonaro, which some have likened to a mix of Donald Trump and Filipino President Rodrigo Duterte, it signals the opposite. ...
More »Is China’s international scientist recruitment program shorthand for IP theft?
Do you remember the American corn seed heist of 2013? More kernel than caper, Mo Hailong and six other Chinese nationals were accused of digging up patented GMO corn seeds from Iowa farms and, once concealed in boxes of microwaveable popcorn, attempting to smuggle them to ...
More »Did Birmo veto grants to avoid being the next Turnbull?
By now, you well know that the former education minster's use of an arcane piece of legislation has caused furore among academics. Simon Birmingham's unannounced, unexplained veto of several research grants, all conferred to humanities researchers, has raised doubts about ...
More »Graduate employment: how each Australian uni, study area fares
Undergraduates who studied at Charles Sturt University are more likely to be employed full-time three years after graduation than those from other universities – and they’re probably earning more too. That’s according to the 2018 Graduate Outcomes Survey – Longitudinal ...
More »Australian unis scale academic performance ranking
The University of Sydney has again been named Australia’s top performing university in a research-only ranking. It jumped from 26 last year to 23 in the 2018–19 University Ranking by Academic Performance (URAP), just behind Peking University. The University of ...
More »Europe’s biggest cancer research funder is revoking bullies’ grants
Grants are currently the buzziest topic in Australian higher education. They are also being discussed around UK academics' proverbial water coolers, thanks to a new Cancer Research UK (CRUK) policy. The policy, drafted by one of the world’s biggest funders of cancer ...
More »Birmingham’s ARC vetoes: the sector reacts
The university sector has taken umbrage with the decision by former Education Minister Simon Birmingham to block 11 applications for Australian Research Council (ARC) funding. ARC confirmed in Senate Estimates that the project applications, all from the humanities and social sciences ...
More »Who decides who dies in driverless car accidents?
At least 11 auto manufacturers, including Toyota, Audi and Tesla, are putting driverless car plans in motion. With soon-to-be robot drivers comes the need to program ethics in them. Think, a situation like the trolley dilemma, where a driver must choose ...
More »An ANU Associate Professor on the traps of success
It began – as the cliché goes – with a list on a napkin. Associate Professor Inger Mewburn, director of research training at ANU and founder of blog The Thesis Whisperer, was lunching with a colleague when the discussion turned to ...
More »Ten inexpensive ways to vanquish cyber spies in higher education
Just a few short years ago, cyber attacks were a barely recognised threat. They felt intangible, unlikely, a concern for the future perpetrated by bored yet technically gifted teenagers. Fast-forward to today and cyber security is the most pressing IT ...
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